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Lighthizer says China backed away from trade commitments

The U.S. Trade Representative says China has been backing away from commitments already made in their trade negotiations with the U.S.  Robert Lighthizer told Washington reporters that is the reason President Trump is proposing an additional 200-billion in tariffs on Chinese goods starting Friday.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also says after getting reassurances from the Chinese last week, talks went “substantially backwards” over the weekend. A Chinese delegation is still planning to travel to the U.S. to continue negotiations this week, but Lighthizer says those talks have now been moved to Thursday and Friday.